From ESPN:

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Jimmy Butler is requesting a trade and his three preferred destinations are the Brooklyn Nets, LA Clippers and New York Knicks, league sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

We just can’t catch a break.

🏀

My excitement for this trailer can’t really be described, so I won’t try. Brie Larson looks amazing in the costume, and the way they’re showing her powers is really cool.

March feels like an eternity right now.

🍿

Another Wednesday is around the corner, and that means it’ll be New Comic Book Day! Here’s what I read last week, and what I’ll be picking up this week.

What I read last week

• The Amazing Spider-Man #5 - This one felt rushed to me. It almost felt like too many of the loose ends of the arc were left for this one issue. But don’t get me wrong, it has some great moments too. Like the dialogue with Mary Jane, or how Spider-Man tells Peter to take a freaking chill pill. If this book’s first arc is an indication of what Nick Spencer still has in store, I’m beyond excited. Definitely keeping this on my pull list.
• Catwoman #3 - I’m really enjoying Catwoman. Before reading Joëlle Jones’ run, I’d never read a Catwoman book before. I’ve heard some complain about the pace for this book, but I disagree. Joëlle is perfectly setting up the villain, and giving us some of her evil backstory. The different artist and colorist for the flashback was a great touch too.
• Fantastic Four #2 - We finally get the much-awaited reunion in this issue which was great to see. But honestly, I’m just not excited about this title. I’m hoping that it’s just because we haven’t gotten to the meat of the arc yet. Once this first arc is over, I’ll reevaluate and see if it stays on my pull list.
• X-23 #4 - The weakest issue of the run so far. There’s a whole two-page spread just to show Laura healing. Mariko Tamaki has otherwise been doing a great job with this title, but I felt the most important parts of the issue happened in just a few panels.
• Paper Girls Vol. 2 & 3 - We did a quick weekend trip to Colorado so I had some time to sit back, relax, and enjoy two volumes of amazing Paper Girls content. Brian K. Vaughan is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers right now. He’s crafted a great story, with characters you quickly care about. His writing in volume two around meeting your older self is especially interesting, and a great vehicle for relatable and introspective moments. If you’re not reading this series, I definitely recommend it.

Favorite of the week: Paper Girls Vol. 2 & 3

Picking up this week

• Mr. & Mrs. X #3 - I hate to say this, but I think I’ll be dropping this book after the end of the arc. I’m really enjoying Kelly Thompson’s other writing, but I’m just not connecting with these two characters.
• Return of Wolverine #1 - I can’t not pick this up. Logan is one of my all-time favorite characters (However, Laura will always be my favorite Wolverine). I’m very interested to see what Charles Soule does with this book, who from what I’m told, is currently on fire with his Darth Vader run.
• West Coast Avengers #2 - Kelly Thompson killed it with the first issue of this book. Holy moly. I’d never even heard of the West Coast Avengers before, but I like Kelly’s writing so I picked up the #1. I fell in love. Can’t wait to read this one.

Brent Simmons:

…we’ve (finally!) entered a period of tech diversity, and Mastodon and Micro.blog and RSS readers and blogging systems and so on do not have to capture the attention of the entire internet to be successful and important.

Yes.

Exciting new week of comics! Here’s what I read last week, and what I’m picking up this week.

What I read last week

• Deadpool #4 - The first issue I picked up of this new run was issue #3, and wasn’t convinced with how Skottie Young wrote Deadpool. It wasn’t very funny. However, this issue felt like a complete 180! It had me laughing in a few different moments.
• Cover #1 - The premise for this was pretty clever and I enjoyed the first issue. I’ve heard people say they didn’t like the art inside, but I thought it was pretty cool. Very different and unconventional, which I’d almost expect from a creator-owned comic.
• Paper Girls #24 - This comic is absolutely gorgeous. I’d love to frame the cover and hang it on my wall. Also, Cliff Chiang does a spectacular job with the inside. The colors are vibrant, the lettering is done very well, and it’s all printed on this glossy, thicker-than-other-books paper. And that’s to say nothing of the story. It was my first issue, and I’m very intrigued to see what happens next. I’ll be buying the back issues to catch up for sure.
• Deadpool #2 - Over the weekend I wanted to get some of the back issues of this, since I started on issue #3. The more I read this series, the more I like it. My initial hesitation on Skottie Young is long gone.
• Paper Girls Vol. 1 - After picking up Paper Girls on Wednesday I just had to catch up on this! I enjoyed the first volume and I’m starting to understand some of the things I read in issue #24. Again, what beautiful art by Cliff Chiang. I’m just entranced with every panel.

Favorite of the week: Paper Girls #24

Picking up this week

• The Amazing Spider-Man #5 - The first arc of this new run comes to an end this week, and I’m intrigued to see what happens. Nick Spencer is writing the Spider-Man I want to read, but I’m sad to see Ryan Ottley’s run end.
• Catwoman #3 - Can’t even imagine the work involved in being the writer, artist, and main cover artist on a title, but Joëlle Jones does it. Interested in seeing where this arc is headed.
• Fantastic Four #2 - A deciding issue of whether I keep picking this up, or trade wait. I liked the first issue, but we’ll see where this arc is headed.
• X-23 #4 - Mariko Tamaki is doing such a great job on this book. You can tell she did her homework and understands the personality of Laura and Gabby.

Listened to Observer Drift’s new album last night. I’m in love with the plethora of science-fiction-like sounds. I imagined something different when thinking of what this album would sound like, but I got something much better.

My favorites are:

• Star Grave
• Perennial
• Odyssey of a Broken Heart
• Final Transmission (feat. Olivia Winter)

Definitely recommend you give it a listen (in headphones preferably).

Another NCBD (new comic book day) is upon us! Here’s what I read last week, and what I’m picking up this week! Also, you can follow me on League of Comic Geeks to see all of my subscriptions and my growing collection!

What I read last week

• X-23 #3 - This book keeps gettin better and better. Mariko Tamaki really understands Laura and Gabby, and writes them excellently.
• Daredevil Annual #1 - The story centered more on Misty Knight, but that didn’t bother me at all! I enjoyed the issue.

Favorite of the week: X-23 #3

Picking up this week

• Deadpool #4 - I’m not sure I like the way Young writes Deadpool, but still giving it a chance.
• Cover #1 - Interesting premise, so going to give it a try.

Happy Wednesday peeps! New comic book day is upon us, and as packed as last week was, it’s pretty light this week. Here’s what I read last week, and what I’m picking up this week.

What I picked up last week

• West Coast Avengers #1 - This was such a fun read! I didn’t know any of these characters, but as always, it doesn’t matter when a story is written so well. Kelly Thompson did such a great job. The cast of characters is great, the story was full of humor and witty sarcasm, and the artwork was spectacular.
• Amazing Spider-man #4 - This is probably my least favorite issue of the run so far. It wasn’t bad, just not much happened. The meat is at the end when the stakes are raised.
• Mr. and Mrs. X #2 - Kelly Thompson killed it again with a great issue! Pretty cool action in this one, and the Deadpool dialogue was fantastic.
• X-men Red #7 - Enjoyed this issue. Tom Taylor always writes great dialogue between the team. I really loved the ending with the two page spread.
• Teen Titans #21 - Dropping this title. After two issues, I’m not really feeling the characters or the story. At the moment, it’s lacking well written humor.

Favorite of the week: West Coast Avengers #1

Picking up this week

• X-23 #3 - Laura and Gabby are in great hands with Mariko Tamaki. She’s understands these characters and is writing them very well so far.
• Batgirl #26 - New creative team on this book, so I’m going to give it a try.

It’s Wednesday again! Here’s what I read last week, and what I’m picking up this week. Also! New category: what I’m dropping 😱

What I picked up last week

• Batgirl: Stephanie Brown Vol. 1 - Loved this book! I really enjoyed seeing Barbara deal with her circumstances, and how that moves her to be of help to others. Stephanie is a great character, and earns wearing the suit.
• Deadpool & Cable Annual - This was hilarious. While some of the time jumping was a bit confusing, Deadpool’s monologue on the difference between comics and films was spectacular.
• Teen Titans #20 - Wanted to give this a try because the book is starting a new arc with new team members. I’ll pick up the next few issues possibly, but I’m not 100 percent convinced just yet. I expected a little more humor in this book.

Picking up this week

• Teen Titans #21
• X-men Red #7 - The last issue came out so long ago, I think I need a refresh of what happened. Still, I love Tom Taylor and the way he writes. Overall, I’m enjoying the arc and cast of characters.
• Amazing Spider-man #4 - I’m shocked issue four is already here! I feel like I just read number three! Loving this run. Nick Spencer writes Spider-man true to what I feel the character is, and I’m excited to see what Peter Parker will do in his current predicament.
• Mr. and Mrs. X #2 - Kelly Thompson did a great job with the first issue of this comic (and I say that without knowing much about Rogue and Gambit). Deadpool is in this issue, so we’ll see what she does with him.
• West Coast Avengers #1 - Another Kelly Thompson book. I don’t know anything about the West Coast Avengers, but it’s a new book, and Kelly’s writing it.

Dropping this week

Whoa! New section!

• Black Panther #3 - Dropping this book after two issues. I feel confused with what’s going on, and the tone is darker than what I wanted in this title.

Cheri Baker on mourning Twitter:

It seems that we’re losing not just a website, but connections to something deeper.

Are we grieving a sense of community? I ask because Twitter felt like a community, until it didn’t. We Twitter-enthusiasts stuck around for a long time, hoping we’d get those old feelings back. And because we have no real-life community to fall back on, it seems we’re left with two unhappy choices: Look for connection inside the abusive rage-tornado on sites like Twitter, or accept feelings of disconnection and loneliness when we leave.

Cheri really nails it here. I hadn’t been able to express why I’m sad about Twitter, but this is definitely it.

I joined Twitter in March of 2009 when I was seventeen years old. I was in college learning about graphic and web design. There weren’t many people I knew in my daily life that were interested in that stuff, but Twitter is where I was told I could find them. They were right, Twitter is where I found *my people*—other like-minded individuals who were geeks, loved a lot of the things I loved, and where I could talk about my interests without feeling like I was boring people to death.

And now… my people are gone.

Wednesday is here again, and that means it’s new comic book day! I don’t have any books on my pull list coming out this week, but that doesn’t mean I’m not reading something. Here’s my review on what I read last week, and what I’m reading this week.

What I picked up last week

• Amazing Spider-man #3 - Loving this Spider-man run! It comes with the humor you expect from a Spider-man title, and the internal emotional turmoil that is classic Peter. I’ve read some say the arc is similar to other stories in the past, but since I haven’t read those, I’m enjoying it.
• Fantastic Four #1 - Great return for the FF! There are a few things that I feel you needed to know before reading (which I think shouldn’t be the case in a #1), but the end of this issue had a tear in my eye.
• Catwoman #1 & #2 - I was intrigued to hear Joëlle Jones was not only writing, but also responsible for the art inside. I’m relatively new to comics, so I hadn’t seen that done before. Also, Artgerm created awesome variant covers. I’m so glad I picked these books up! The story looks to be an interesting one, and Joëlle’s art is unique and expressive.

Reading this week

• Batgirl: Stephanie Brown Vol. 1 - One of my favorite AMSR videos talks extensively about the Stephanie Brown run of Batgirl. She talks so well of the run, I finally had to pick it up! I’m about a quarter way in, and very much enjoying the story!

Another Wednesday is here, which means it’s New Comic Book Day! Here are my thoughts on what I picked up last week, and what I’m picking up today.

What I picked up last week

• Captain America #2 - This book definitely has a dark feel to it. Looks like Cap is going to be working through some issues. Not what I expected, but I liked it.
• Immortal Hulk #4 - So confused with this book. Everyone was raving about it, but I didn’t feel the same. Maybe I’ll pick it up in trade later.
• Teen Titans #20 - Not one copy left at my local comic shop. Bummer.

Picking up this week

• Amazing Spider-man #3 - Spider-man is one of my favorite characters. Really intrigued to see where this is going.
• Fantastic Four #1 - The only comic I’ve read with the Fantastic Four is the original Civil War. I loved them. Looking forward to this series.

Mark McElroy:

I saw something the other day about titles being hurdles to easy blogging. The theory goes that stopping to consider a title is friction; eliminating titles all together reduces friction.

…

Maybe the hurdle isn’t the title, but the way someone approaches creating it.

Anything can stop you from blogging—or whatever it is you’re trying to do. We’re good at coming up with excuses for why we don’t do something, when there are either more important things in our life, or we just don’t want to.

Are titles a hurdle? Sure. But, motivation determines how big of a hurdle it is.

As soon as we saw news of AMC doing a subscription, Kelly (my partner-in-crime) and I were convinced to sign up. Here are the things I like, and don’t like about it.

Pros

• Three movies a week is amazing. We love movies, but don’t usually see more than three a week. That being said, since we’ve had the subscription, we’ve hit that limit a few times already.
• The buying experience is really simple and easy.
• Canceling a reservation is simple and easy.
• No restrictions on watching movies on opening night, which we love to do.
• Feels like we’re just another moviegoer except we don’t pay at the end.
• $19.95/month feels expensive, but when you think about it, you wouldn’t even get two movies at $10/ticket. With AMC A-List, you get 12 movies a month.
• You collect rewards points for your concession purchases and the price of the subscription. That’s awesome.

Cons

• No family account. I don’t necessarily want a discount, just a way to connect accounts as part of the same family.
• This means I can’t buy our tickets together. Instead we both need to reserve separately and make sure we have seats together.

If you want more info, I recommend reading through the FAQ’s.

As you can see, the pros far outweigh the cons. If you live near an AMC theater, and you love going to the movies, this subscription is for you.

Josh Ginter on The Sweet Setup:

I’m very, very late to the Alfred party. We had long since named Alfred the best app launcher for macOS way back when, and yet I still forgot to clue in.

…

Without the Powerpack, Alfred isn’t too much better than Apple’s built-in Spotlight search. With the Powerpack, you can install workflows that speed up macOS and skip over extra clicks and keystrokes.

Pretty great list. I am a huge fan of Alfred. Been using for at least eight years now. That last one for iTunes is a new one to me, and looks incredibly useful.

Manuel Riess:

I just realized my iMac does not support Mojave anymore. Now I’m wondering whether this is the end of me owning a Mac for the foreseeable future. I’m basically just working on the Macbook(sic) for my Job and there is no good option for a consumer Mac anymore.

I’m seeing more and more people thinking of ditching the Mac. I’ve also seen many others who already have. Apple says it’s committed to the professional, but so far the iMac Pro is its only real effort so far.

The only positive is that I think Apple knows that the professional’s confidence in them is waning. There’s no other explanation for why they would pre-announce a Mac Pro and a new display they’re working on.

Either way… they’ve got to step it up, and I hope it happens fast.

Tryouts this week! Only the best comics will survive the chopping block! Here’s what I actually ended up picking up last week, and what I’m planning on getting this week.

What I picked up last week

• X-23 #2
• Amazing Spider-man #2
• Mr. & Mrs. X #1 - Decided to give this a try because I heard lots of buzz around the book. I ended up really liking it. Kelly Thompson did a great job with this first issue (those honeymoon panels were steamy!), and the ending left me very curious of what’ll happen next.

Picking up this week

• Captain America #2 - Lots of buzz around this book, and I love Ta-Nehisi Coates. Let’s see what he’s doing with Cap.
• Immortal Hulk #4 - Again, lots of buzz around this book, so I’m giving a try. Hulk is one of my favorite characters.
• Teen Titans #20 - This book came out last week, and while I’ve never really been into Teen Titans, the team of characters looks fun.

Turns out, you can use Cloud.typography fonts on here, and doing it isn’t too difficult.

You’ll need to edit the CSS of your theme. Copy the URL from the code that Cloud.typography gives you, and insert that into an @import statement. Then change the font-family to reflect whichever font you chose. In my case, I’m using Whitney.

@import url('[cloud.typography.com](https://cloud.typography.com/)…/…/css/fonts.css');

body {
  font-family: "Whitney SSm A", "Whitney SSm B";
}

If you have any questions, let me know!

From StarWars.com:

Star Wars: Episode IX will begin filming at London’s Pinewood Studios on August 1, 2018. J.J. Abrams returns to direct the final installment of the Skywalker saga. Abrams co-wrote the screenplay with Chris Terrio.

Interestingly, this feels like bittersweet news. I’m so excited to see how this trilogy will end, yet I wish someone other than J.J. had been chosen to write and direct. I like J.J., and I appreciate what he did to reignite this franchise, but I wanted more risk. Rian Johnson for The Last Jedi was a risk, and I think it payed off. J.J. is a safe bet.

Episode IX hits theaters in December 2019.

Manton Reece:

In other Slack news this week, they moved their blog from Medium to their own domain name, powered by WordPress VIP. Because they had medium.com URLs before, none of their old posts redirect. At least they’ve got things future-proof now.

It doesn’t matter who are, own your content. The “hip” writing platform du jour will eventually fade, but your root domain is forever.

I’m a big fan of Zachery Levi. His portrayal of Chuck is great to me. I know it’s not the most amazing of shows, but for some reason I have a deep emotional connection to it.

I think his casting in this role is perfect.

Pretty small week for me, but great books I’m looking forward to! Here are my picks for the week.

• X-23 #2 - I was a big fan of All-New Wolverine. Tom Taylor did an excellent job, and made both Laura and Gabby two of my all-time favorite characters. Mariko Tamaki wrote a great first issue of this new series, and I’m looking forward to where she takes it.
• Amazing Spider-man #2 - I love Spidey as a character, and really enjoyed the first issue, especially the ending.

Jim Dalrymple on The Loop:

Last week a video appeared on the Web from David Lee showing how the new MacBook Pro would throttle down speeds when it got hot under processor loads. Apple told me that the issue Lee was experiencing has been identified and is being fixed today.

I saw lots of talk around this issue last week, and it bummed me out. I’m glad it was fixed so soon, because these are exactly the type of problems professionals don’t want to deal with. My friend TJ Draper says every Apple laptop he’s ever had, has had thermal issues. While I don’t share the same experience, I do often worry what the cost of an increasingly smaller body for professional machines will be.

Brian Smith:

Sony a7 III cameras have been flying off the shelves as quickly as they arrive. If you’ve been waiting for one, a new shipment arrives at B&H Photo Tomorrow!

So exciting! I pre-ordered a Sony α7 III back in March, and have been incredibly happy. As some of you may know, I had a Canon before purchasing this Sony camera, and just in the four months I’ve had it, I’ve used it so much more than I ever used my Canon.

If you’ve been on the fence about mirrorless, this is a camera I can definitively recommend.